Obama presses FEMA on Isaac prep

President Barack Obama is scheduled to receive a briefing Monday from FEMA and other federal officials on preparations for Tropical Storm Isaac as it approaches the Gulf Coast.

Obama got a rundown Sunday from FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, National Hurricance Center Director Rick Knabb and other emergency management officials as they spread out across Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana — the four states that could get direct hits by the storm beginning Tuesday afternoon.

“His direction to FEMA is [to] make sure we’re ready to go,” Fugate told reporters Monday in a conference call.

Fugate added that FEMA now has authority post-Katrina to quickly redeploy its resources — bottled water, food, supplies for infants and small children -- to affected areas without waiting for requests from a governor.

Isaac -- currently a tropical storm but potentially making landfall as a Category 1 or 2 hurricane – is most noteworthy for its size and slow-moving nature, Fugate said.

As much as 12 inches to 18 inches of rainfall are expected in some areas from the storm. Storm surges as high as six feet to 12 feet are also possible in southeastern Louisiana. High winds and inland flooding in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas are top concerns as the storm progresses mid-week.

Because of the storm's size and the uncertainty of models predicting the storm's path, Fugate urged the public not to focus just on the potential of a direct strike on low-lying New Orleans.

“I think people need to understand this is not a New Orleans storm. This is a Gulf Coast storm,” he said.

Federal officials said members of the public should follow their local government's evacuation orders.

“Wherever people plan to be during the storm they need to get there tonight,” Knabb, the NHC director in Miami, said during Monday's briefing with reporters.